Microsoft to kill Encarta later this year — Microsoft has announced that it is discontinuing its Encarta line of products. The software products will be gone by June 2009 and the website will go down October 31, 2009. — When I first saw this, I had to do a double take.

Hacking Google: Retro Links Revives Old Google Feature — Google sometimes turns off features. One such feature that I remember fondly is that at the bottom of Google's search results, we offered nine other search engine suggestions. The idea was if you didn't find what you were searching for on Google …

It's Official: Twitter Hires Ex-Google Designer Douglas Bowman — Turns out the Web rumors were true for once. In a meeting last Friday afternoon in Twitter's San Francisco office, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told me that the company had hired ex-Google Visual Design Lead Douglas Bowman to be the company's new creative director.

Price update for access to Blu-ray movies — Hi, Jessie Becker here, VP of Marketing, with a message for our members who have added Blu-ray access to their accounts. This message does not apply to you if you have not added Blu-ray access to your account. — The number of titles available …

What will the next iPhone be called? — Naming any Apple product — much less the iPhone, the most iconic of them all — is no easy task. — Remember all the mindless chatter when Apple risked legal entanglement with Cisco for the right to use the name “iPhone”? Gizmodo:

RBC says iPhone 3G ‘Pro’ won't boost iPhone momentum — The Royal Bank of Canada is maintaining its bearish near-term outlook on shares of Apple, claiming that although consumer interest in a new version of the iPhone remains healthy, sales of the new device are unlikely to provide the company …

Twitter quakes as San Francisco shakes — Earthquake news and Twitter have long gone hand in hand because of Twitter's instant mass-communication ability. Today, an earthquake shook the San Francisco Bay area (where Twitter's headquarters is located, along with many of its original users), and Twitter traffic went nuts.

Microsoft, TomTom settle patent dispute — Microsoft and TomTom have reached a settlement in their respective patent suits, the companies said Monday. — As part of the deal, as TomTom will pay Microsoft for coverage related to mapping patents and file-management patents that Microsoft claimed …

Replies Are Now Mentions — We're updating the Replies feature and referring to it instead as Mentions. In your Twitter sidebar you'll now see your own @username tab. When you click that tab, you'll see a list of all tweets referencing your account with the @username convention anywhere in the tweet …

Review: Skype for iPhone. Verdict: Awesome. — UPDATED: In a few short hours, you will be able to download the native Skype iPhone client and install it on your iPhones and iPod Touch devices. And when you do, you'll be able to replicate almost all of Skype's functions.

Verizon's MiFi 2200 is your own personal Hotspot — We've received information that Verizon is preparing to launch a device known as the MiFi 2200. Based on the info and pictures, it appears that the device is a personal Hotspot with built-in rechargeable battery.

DHS Releases Conficker/Downadup Computer Worm Detection Tool — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today the release of a DHS-developed detection tool that can be used by the federal government, commercial vendors, state and local governments, and critical infrastructure owners …

TheFunded Not Shutting Down — We're always happy to give a wide berth to people pulling April Fools pranks, but even so it's pushing it to do it on March 27. If you go that early, you need to be side-splittingly funny or earn our disdain until we've forgotten all about it.

Macworld Expo Moves, Accepts Its Nickname — Here's the first hint of how IDG's Macworld Expo will change in the wake of Apple's decision to pull out of the show: It's moving from early January to February 9th-13th (which includes a Saturday-the show has been weekday only).

Microsoft Acquires Yahoo ... VP of Ops — Add another name to the list of Yahoo employees defecting to Microsoft. Dayne Sampson, Yahoo's VP of operations for search and advertising, has fled the company for its former suitor, Microsoft confirmed to Digital Daily.

Microsoft drops plan to charge for WinMo updates — Microsoft has backed off plans to charge Windows Mobile developers $99 for submitting even minor updates to their applications. — Last week, Microsoft said that unless developers submitted updates to their applications within 7 days of their release …

Google Prepares Venture Fund — Google Inc. is expected to Tuesday announce more details about its highly anticipated venture-capital fund, including its plan to commit roughly $100 million to the endeavor in its first year, said people familiar with the matter.

Big fish in a shallow pond — True to their word, Microsoft has provided Community Games sales data by the end of March. The results are, in one word, sobering. — First, let me just reiterate that we have been very upfront about what Mommy's Best is trying to achieve. We want to make kick ass games, full-time.

Yahoo Net service comes to Samsung TVs — Yahoo technology to bring Internet services to TVs has fledged from the demonstration realm to become a available in actual product, Samsung TVs. — Yahoo calls the technology TV Widgets, but Samsung is branding it as Internet@TV.